Supposedly today, the largest ethic group/ nationality that makes up America's population is German. German blood, not necessarily German settlements and enclaves. Nancy ------- Take the high road; it's less crowded.-- L. Pitts On Jan 28, 2008, at 3:00 PM, RAM wrote: > Ed, > > The book at this link http://www.us-english.org/foundation/research/ > amimmigr/Chapter5.PDF > gives the following breakdown of the 1790 Census: > > "...the first U.S. Census in 1790. Estimates of the population’s > ethnic origins indicated language diversity even at that time, when > roughly half of the population was of English origin; nearly 19 > percent was of African origin; 12 percent was Scottish or Scottish- > Irish and Irish accounted for about 3 percent of the total. People of > Dutch, French, and Spanish origin represented an aggregate 14 > percent. The first U.S. Census largely ignored Native Americans. " > > Or was it a later time than 1790 to which you were referring when you > wrote: > > "...according to census records the second largest group of > immigrants to the U.S. were the Germans..." > > This source goes on to assert: > > "German was not able to hold its ground as a language of daily usage > even in Pennsylvania, except within small Mennonite, Amish and other > sectarian communities." > > Further on, this same source notes: > > "During both the War of Independence and the War of 1812, at times > when anti-English feelings were running high, Americans of German > descent comprised less than 9 percent of the total population of the > United States. And even in Pennsylvania, where the Germans had > settled most densely, they accounted for only a third of the entire > population." > > I confused by the following sentence from you email: > > "...the second largest group of immigrants to the U.S. were the > Germans and the bulk of them didn't arrive here after the surge in > 1848." > > Did you mean: "...and the bulk of them didn't arrive here UNTIL > after the surge in 1848." > > Or did you mean: "...the bulk of them didn't arrive here > after the surge IN TOTAL IMMIGRATION in 1848." > > Or something all together different? > > Richard > >